Kurdistan Region lost estimated $150 million in tourism revenue during Eid al-Fitr and Newroz lockdowns

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region's tourism sector has received $150 million less in revenue during the Kurdish New Year festival of Newroz and the holy month of Ramadan compared to figures from the previous year, amid regional and global coronavirus lockdown measures.

Eid and Newroz holidays have typically stimulated the Region’s tourism sector – providing financial respite even during difficult economic times.

This year, with the converging crises of a pandemic and global crash in oil demand, the Region did not receive the much-needed boost, having movement restrictions in place during both holidays.

"Last year's Newroz festival and Eid al-Fitr, the majority of holidaymakers had come through tourism groups. Many of them stayed for up to four days. We have estimated three days for the average duration of any tourist staying in the Kurdistan Region and $300 for their spending,” Nadr Rosti, spokesperson of the Kurdistan Region's Tourism  Board, told Rudaw on Tuesday.

“Therefore, during the two occasions in 2019, we generated $150 million in tourism revenue. However this year, the revenue dropped to zero due to the coronavirus inter-city and inter-provinces curfews," said the spokesperson.

The government’s 2020 tourism master plan had estimated the Region’s tourism spots would receive more than four million holidaymakers, said Rosti, claiming that the unexpected global outbreak of the pandemic spoiled their plans. 

In 2019, the Region saw 243,000 tourists during the three day Newroz holiday and 250,000 during Eid al-Fitr. Eighty percent of which came from Iraq’s central and southern cities, and the remaining 20 percent from Iran and other countries, according to data Rudaw has received from the Region’s tourism board.

Regional authorities imposed a total lockdown on March 16 to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The Kurdistan Region is a popular destination for tourists, especially for Iraqis looking to escape the summer heat. It is home to a wide geographic diversity that spans from wildlife-filed forests to skiing in the Zagros Mountain range that borders Iran.

Erbil alone boasts over 500 archaeological and historic sites; including its 8,000 year old Citadel, which claims to be the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world; the Mudhafaria Minaret, and the Qayassaria Bazaars.

Zirak Biya Elia, head of Erbil's Guest houses, Restaurants and Hotels Association, told Rudaw Tuesday in a phone call that the hotels and motels "bore the brunt of this crisis."

"The number of guests they received due to the closure of the airports and inter-provincial curfews dropped to zero," said Elia. "Ninety percent of Erbil's hotels have been closed, sending back home 75 percent of their employees numbering 1,000."

A decade ago, economic hopes were high in the Kurdistan Region, a haven of stability in a restless neighborhood. An economic boom saw investment pour in, and construction projects flourish from 2005 until 2013 – a period when Iraq was in turmoil.

But in 2014, chaos ensued after the emergence of the militant Islamic State (ISIS), leading to financial crises in Baghdad and Erbil that dramatically impacted the country's economy.

In the Kurdistan Region, there is a large number of tourism companies who, in coordination with those in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, bring in tourists to the Region.

"We have 28 offices in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and Turkey cities. All of them are closed now," Haval Sabt Agha, in charge of the Buki Daria Tourism Company, told Rudaw in a phone call Tuesday. "The monthly cost of our employees salaries and the offices is $50,000."

He said last year, their company alone brought 4,000 holidaymakers from other parts of Iraq to the Region, but none this year, leaving his business without any revenue. 

Translation by Zhelwan Z. Wali